Baseball, Softball, and other competitive pitching sports inadvertently place the pitcher in close proximity to the batter. The pitcher is often finishing the pitching movement during and or after the batter makes contact with the ball. Consequently, the return of the ball occurs during a relatively short time period while the pitcher is off guard and cannot easily field the returned ball. The combination of the pitchers proximity to the batter, the short time period between the pitch and the return of the ball, and the subsequent winding down motion of the pitcher inadvertently causes the pitcher to be vulnerable.
More particularly, pitchers are vulnerable during batting practice because of increased exposure. During batting practice, pitchers tend to throw soft pitches to the batter so that the batter can make the most effective contact and thereby improve his batting performance. It is not uncommon for a pitcher to throw several hundred pitches and receive several hundred batted balls in return during a single session of batting practice. Additionally, many teams and players practice in multiple locations thereby increasing the need for a hyper mobile lightweight apparatus that can withstand the test of time.
Many existing pitching nets are bulky, expensive, complicated, and are susceptible to becoming easily weathered. These problems inevitably result in many pitchers foregoing protection because the usage of existing products is inconvenient. The present invention aims to solve the previously mentioned problems.